The Post Card That Changed the World

Do realize that you are a person who, by your very existence, changes the world?

I will make it clear to you how you have in the past and can in the future.

Here is a true story about a post card that was mailed 60 years ago and still affects the world we live in.

Robert Clinton Sweeney was a guy I grew up with. He was an ordinary, but extraordinary man. A dreamer. He could have lived in Woodstock. A poor student, always in trouble, and never graduated from High School. However, he was handsome, very handsome and a charmer. The girls loved him and he loved them. But not as much as he loved music. The set of drums that he had in his basement were well worn, as were the nerves of his parents. He would spend hours down there banging away to tunes on his little radio. To prove how magical he was, although he didn't work, he some how obtained a model T Ford coupe with a rumble seat. For those of you who don't know what a rumble seat is, Google it. The driver would drive with his date in the front and the lucky friend (me) would sit in the rumble seat with my date and "rumble".

One time I remember Bob and I were in the front seats and he had two young ladies sitting in the rumble seat. Mischievous Robert planned it that way. You old timers may know that some of the old cars had a throttle on the steering wheel. The Mother of modern cruise control. It took the place of the floor accelerator. So Bob set it at a slow speed, got out of the car while it was going and stepped out on the running board. Once again, if you don't know what a running board is...(Good old Google.) My job was to stay in the front passenger seat and steer with my left hand while Bob began a conversation with the girls. They believed that the car was running by itself with no driver. It was crazy but adolescent fun. That was Bob Sweeney.

I was going to college at the time and Bob was, when he wasn't car cruising, in the basement pounding away. His Mother used to beg me to somehow light a fire under him and get him to do something positive. "Don't worry," Mrs Sweeney, " I would assure her. He will make you proud of him, you'll see."

Well one day I was listening to my radio and I heard an advertisement for a school that trained disc jockeys. Gee, I thought, that would be great for Bob. They gave an address to send for information. I happened to have a post card. So, I addressed the post card and put Bob's name and address on it. He got the brochure and was all excited, enrolled in the school, and became a DJ. His first job was in New Jersey where he was an instant success. The young girls loved him. Then he got an offer to work in Louisiana. He went to Louisiana and met Lenola La Porte. A southern belle with whom he fell madly in love. Well they were married and she straightened him out, but good. She was a Catholic girl and Bob, who was never serious about his religion was struck by the Holy Spirit. Bob and Lynn had seven (count them) children. They became lay missionaries for the Third Order of St. Francis and went to work in Mexico. They were there working with the poor for several years. Unfortunately, he became ill with a heart condition and they had to return to Louisiana.

Bob had a heart attack and died several years later. He was 67.. I'll bet right now he is riding around up there in his Ford with the rumble seat.

I lost track of how many grand children they had. But, I am sure they are all prospering with the faith and example he and Lynn gave them.

So there it is, a post card changed the world. Nice story and true.

So what has that got to do with you? Remember, you have the power.. You don't have to be an Einstein or a Bill Gates. You are important and the Good Lord put you here for a reason. Think about it. You have already changed the world. Leave a legacy you will be proud of. Seize every opportunity to make every day and even every moment count. Remember one of my last columns? "Life is Too Short." Well it is.

So, in your own way, send a post card, and you can change the world.

I have no links as yet. I have a practice at 664 Aaron Court, Kingston, N.Y. 12401. (845) 338 1954. carlbkr@aol.com.

I am a Certified Hypnotherapist and therapist. I have been in practice almost 40 years.